John Constantine, Hellblazer Reading Order: Where To Start With Hellblazer Comics?

The complete reading order to John Constantine, the star of Vertigo Comics’ Hellblazer.

While the launch of Hellblazer is relatively easy to follow throughout the various stellar creative runs of the 90’s, Constantine’s origins launch in an entirely separate series, and 2000’s Hellblazer runs are very confusingly collected and difficult to follow.

Below you’ll find an easy to follow guide to Hellblazer comics, and the creative eras of John Constantine up through his reintroduction to the DC Universe as part of DC’s New 52.

Hellblazer Comic Book Reading Order

Constantine First Appearance, Saga of the Swamp Thing

It’s worth noting that Vertigo’s longest running series of all time (over 300 issues) gets its start in Swamp Thing, where Alan Moore and company introduce British working class magician John Constantine.

Personally, I’d recommend you read the Saga of the Swamp Thing in its entirety, as Moore, Totleben, and Bissette craft one of the finest DC Comics of all time here. Nonetheless, if you just want Constantine in all his first appearance glory, you can find him beginning with Book Three of the collections.

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New 52 Constantine

Below you’ll find John Constantine’s appearances in DC’s New 52, including his role as a member of Justice League Dark. You can check out the full DC New 52 reading order for how these stories fit in context of the overall DC Universe.

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About Dave

Dave is the founder and Editor-in-Chief of Comic Book Herald, and also the Boss of assigning himself fancy titles. He's a long-time comic book fan, and can be seen most evenings in Batman pajama pants. Contact Dave @comicbookherald on Twitter or via email at dave@comicbookherald.com.

Nicely done, Dave. But I feel I have to mention that DC has been in the process of collecting the entire 300 issue Hellblazer run PLUS most of, maybe even all of, the specials and spin-offs in double-sized trades, and they’re already up to Volume 14 and the Brian Azzarello Era. Volume 15 will wrap up Azzarello’s work on this title, and then Volumes 16 & 17 will collect what I consider the very best of Hellblazer, the first 2/3 of the Mike Carey Era. Then, Volumes 20 & 21 will cover my second favorite phase of the run, the Andy Diggle Era.

Of course, different Constantine fans have their own favorite Hellblazer eras, but Carey’s and Diggle’s get relatively little fanfare, so I feel I have to drum up some publicity for them.